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Hi everyone, my name is Jan-Eric and I am Marketing Trainee in the Unilever Future Leaders Programme. In the Marketing UFLP in Germany you pass through three different placements. The first rotation usually takes you in the field force. The second station is completed in the Brand Building department, which is the local marketing for Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Finally, the third rotation often leads you abroad, mostly to our European or Global headquarters in Rotterdam or London. There, the Brand Development takes place, which corresponds to the global marketing.

Having now worked at Unilever for 6 weeks, some Summer Placement students reflect on their experience as they reach the half-way point…

Charndeep Singh, Supply Chain

Office Location: Manufacturing Excellence Centre (MEC) Port Sunlight

Most exciting experience so far: Leading Autonomous Maintenance training sessions for operators.

Key skill learnt you will take back to university: People management skills. Having to coordinate with and motivate operators and engineers to comply with standards set and improvements made has been challenging but highly rewarding.

Working in Finance, I am responsible for drafting the forecast for my entire P&L on a monthly basis, together with my business team. I am fully responsible for the entire profit and loss accounts up to core operating margin in my business unit, Baking Cooking & Spreads. In this role, I work on different projects, for example: the launch of our 100% plant-based innovation for the brand, Becel. During this project, I was owner of the budget and needed to ensure we could reach our targets, negotiate investments and conduct a campaign.

How many times did you think “Do we really want to gain a seat in the market? Let’s invest in Sales and Marketing”

Yet, there are not specific functions which are more important than others. Being successful in our markets is the result of an equation in which all our functions play a fundamental role.

But what’s the role of HR in this equation?

You may also think brands are our ‘only’ most valuable and strongest asset, and therefore our key ingredient to success. But how come these brands, among tons of other competitor’s brands, have always managed through the years to maintain their high market share and a strong brand equity? The answer is easy: it’s because of the people behind these brands!

When you have just graduated in energy engineering and jump in employment for the first time, chances are high you’re not really looking for a job but for an adventure…

That was the case for me, at least. I wanted to be facing energy puzzles, turn them around, lucidly spot the issue and eventually come up with just the right solution to make things more efficient, reduce energy waste, save power and make the world a better place.

It sounded quite ambitious to me, too. But amazingly, that’s exactly what I got when, 18 months ago, I set foot as an intern in Unilever’s Home Care Factory in Northern Italy.

Unilever has also an ambitious project: the Sustainable Living Plan, which aims to make the company’s supply chain carbon free by 2030. So my first task there, as a fresh graduate, was to analyse the energy consumption of the factory, understand it, and find a way to reduce it – exactly the adventure had been dreaming of.

Just 3 weeks into my industrial placement with Unilever I was lucky enough to join a team of around 100 employees, along with their friends and family to take part in the biggest Pride celebration to date.

Today we talk toElena Battini,an Italian native who embarked on the UFLP almost two years, starting in Rome.

Like many people, Elena did not know Unilever was the company behind one of her favourite brands – Cornetto. She came to learn about the organization during her Bocconi University days in Milan while studying for a business degree in International Management.

She decided to apply for the UFLP and was successful in securing a place on the Go-To-Market UFLP (marketing and sales).

The 26-year-old from Parma has worked in Customer Development since joining the company and has taken part in two international rotations so far.

Many times I have been asked to share my opinions on the Unilever Future Leaders Programme (UFLP). It is always difficult to explain to your friends exactly what your feelings are while you go from placement to placement, starting new roles, exploring new cities and taking up new hobbies.

Julia is Head of Unilever’s Safety & Environmental Assurance Centre (SEAC) and has spanned a career within Unilever since 1998. With an academic background in biochemistry and a PhD in toxicology, she has also played a key role in shaping the R&D UFLP and so read about her career so far, tips for being successful on the scheme and maintaining that vital work-life balance: Read more “Senior leader interview: Julia Fentem, Vice President SEAC”→